ormation, and he was steadily and
persistently accumulating more. There was no doubt whatever, said
Mallett, as to what were the intentions of Wallingford and his
party--though up to then Wallingford's party did not know all that
Wallingford knew. There was to be a clean sweep of everything that
existed under the Town Trustee system. The Town Trustees themselves were
to go. All pensions were to be done away with. All secret payments and
transactions were to be unearthed and prohibited for the future. The
entire financial business of the town was to be placed in the care of
the Corporation. In short, everything was to be turned upside-down, and
the good old days to cease. That was what was to happen if Wallingford
went triumphantly on his way.

"But it was the belief of Mallett, and of Coppinger, and of my brother,
Simon, that Wallingford's way could be barred. How? Well, all three
believed that Wallingford could be bought off. They believed that
Wallingford had his price; that he could be got at; that he could be
squared. All three of them are men who believe that every man has his
price. I believe that myself, and I'm not ashamed of voicing my belief.
Every man can be bought--if you can only agree on a price with him. Now,
the Town Trustees knew that Wallingford had ambitions; they knew what
some of his ambitions were, and of one in particular. They proposed to
buy him in that way, and they commissioned me to see him privately and
to offer him certain terms.

"The terms were these. If Wallingford would drop his investigations and
remain quiet for the remaining period of his mayoralty, the Town
Trustees would agree to the making and carrying out of certain minor
reforms which should be engineered by and credited to Wallingford in
order to save his face with his party. Moreover, they would guarantee to
Wallingford a big increase in his practice as a solicitor, and they
would promise him their united support when a vacancy arose in the
Parliamentary representation of Hathelsborough, which vacancy, they
knew, would occur within the year, as the sitting member had intimated
his intention of resigning. Now, this last was the big card I was to
play--we all knew that Wallingford was extremely desirous of
Parliamentary honours, and that he was very well aware that with the
Town Trustees on his side he would win handsomely, whoever was brought
against him. I was to play that card for all it was worth. So then the
proposal was-